RICHMOND, Va.
, September 11 /Businesswire/ -
“I don’t need travel insurance because my husband swears he knows
everything. You never have to visit a
doctor while traveling. The cruise ship will always
wait for you if you are delayed. Bad things never happen to good
people.” These may be great reasons not to
buy travel insurance, but can anyone really claim that they’re true?
Travelers will weigh in on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, when Allianz
Global Assistance USA, the U.S. leader in travel insurance and
travel assistance, will ask Orbitz.com®
customers for their best reasons not to buy
travel insurance. The contest,
created in honor of “Travel Insurance Awareness Day”, will offer
customers on the Orbitz.com website a chance to win valuable prizes when
they submit their best reasons not to buy
travel insurance.

“We hope that by asking Orbitz.com customers to tell us why they don’t
need travel insurance, it will cause them to consider those times when
travel insurance can be invaluable,” said Mike Nelson, CEO of Allianz
Global Assistance USA. “The Best Reason Not to Buy Travel Insurance
Contest is our tongue in cheek way of raising awareness of the
importance of purchasing travel insurance. We’re looking forward to
having some fun with it while we partner with Orbitz to find the best
‘reasons’ people can come up with.”

Visitors to Orbitz.com need to just click on the Travel Insurance
Awareness Day banners to be taken to a special landing page where they
can enter The Best Reason Not to Buy Travel Insurance Contest. Lucky
winners will receive $200 VISA® gift cards. Full contest rules apply and
can be found here.

Perhaps the best perk for consumers on Travel Insurance Awareness Day is
the free travel assistance Allianz Global Assistance USA will offer on
September 12. The service provides travelers with 24-hour access to
travel assistance specialists who are available to help with any
medical, legal or other travel-related problem (doesn’t include travel
insurance coverage). Free travel assistance will be provided to anyone
who calls 800-654-1908 (collect calls accepted at 804-281-5700) on
September 12, regardless of whether they are an Allianz Travel Insurance
customer.

Travel agents are also invited to participate in Travel Insurance
Awareness Day by visiting the Allianz
Travel Insurance Facebook page and commenting on a series of
informative videos to be entered to win one of ten daily prizes.

Allianz Global Assistance USA

Allianz Global Assistance USA is a leading consumer specialty insurance
and assistance company with operation centers in 29 countries. In the
United States, Allianz Global Assistance USA (AGA Service Company)
insures 13 million customers and is best known for its Allianz Travel
Insurance plans.

In addition to travel insurance, Allianz Global Assistance USA offers
event ticket protection and unique assistance services such as
international medical assistance and concierge services. The company
also serves as an outsource provider for in-bound call center services
and claims administration for health insurers, property and casualty
insurers, and credit card companies.

International leader in Assistance, Travel Insurance andhealth,
life & home care services, today Allianz Global Assistance counts more
than 10,920 employees who speak 40 different languages and work
throughout the world with a network of 400,000 service providers and 180
correspondents. 250 million people, or 4% of the world’s total
population, benefit from its services, which the Group provides on all
five continents.

Allianz

Allianz is the 20th largest company in the world (Forbes
Global 2000, 2011) and 67th most valuable global brand
(Interbrand, 2011). Allianz has 151,000 employees worldwide and 76
million customers in more than 70 countries. In 2011, Allianz had
over 103 billion euros in revenue and over 1.6 trillion euros under
management. In the US, Allianz brands include: